A Federal Court Just Made a Big Decision About Transgender Rights

Posted - March 10 201800:58

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A Federal Court Just Made a Big Decision About Transgender Rights

On Wednesday, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a MI funeral home had unlawfully discriminated against a transgender employee when it fired her after she informed her employer that she would be presenting as a woman, in accordance with her gender identity. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes, were sufficient enough to exempt him from nondiscrimination laws.

As far as the dress code is concerned, the EEOC learned the funeral home provided clothing to male workers dealing with the public but not females.

In a 3-0 decision, the court said "discrimination against employees, either because of their failure to conform to sex stereotypes or their transgender and transitioning status, is illegal under Title VII" of federal civil rights law. The court further found that Rotz was not afforded protection under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) [text, PDF] because Title VII does not substantially burden Rotz's ability to freely exercise his religion, and the government's interest in protecting employees from sex discrimination outweighs protection under RFRA. The ACLU told Buzzfeed that the decision therefore sets an "important precedent" and "ensures that employers will not be able to use their religious beliefs against trans employees, ruling that there is no "right to discriminate" in the workplace".

Although transgender people are not mentioned anywhere in the Bible and Jesus preaches against discrimination, Rost had told the court his transphobic actions were protected because he "sincerely believes that the Bible teaches that a person's sex is an immutable God-given gift", and that he would be "violating God's commands if he were to permit one of the Funeral Home's funeral directors to deny their sex while acting as a representative of the organization". In a written statement, he said the Sixth Circuit opinion "re-writes federal law and is directly contrary to decisions from other federal appellate courts". "The unrefuted facts show that the funeral home fired Stephens because she refused to abide by her employer's stereotypical conception of her sex".

In essence, the Sixth Circuit establishes two milestones with the decision. "Only a small segment of people would want to have a man dressed as a woman conducting services at a funeral home or cemetery".

The employer, Thomas Rost, had contended that Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which outlawed discriminatory treatment, does not cover people who are transgender. He added an appeal is being considered.

Whether Title VII anti-discrimination laws in employment extend to sexual orientation and gender identity is an issue that's been has been widely disputed.

"The essential element of sex discrimination under Title VII is that employees of one sex must be treated worse than similarly situated employees of the other sex, and sexual orientation discrimination simply does not have that effect", the Justice Department argued in an amicus brief it filed in a sex discrimination case before the 2nd Circuit in July.

The EEOC didn't immediately respond March 7 to Bloomberg Law's request for comment.

Moore rejects the assertion Stephens' presentation as a woman would be a distraction for the deceased's loves ones at a funeral home, deriding the idea as "premised on presumed biases", as well as the notion it would place a burden on Rost's religious beliefs because he pays for attire for employees.

Dan Korobkin, ACLU of Michigan's deputy legal director, said he doesn't know what the legal remedy will be, but cases of this nature often result in some sort of compensation for the person's loss of employment.

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